The unemployment rate in the Gulf Coast Workforce region — which includes Bay,
Franklin
and Gulf counties — was 8.7 percent in January 2013. That was up 0.2 percentage point from December 2012.

The January 2013
Gulf
Coast
rate was 1.3 percentage points lower than the region’s year-ago rate of 10 percent. Out of a labor force of 96,776, there were 8,416 unemployed
Gulf
Coast
residents.

In January 2013, there were 69,000 nonagricultural jobs in the
Panama
City-Lynn
Haven-Panama
City
Beach
metro area, which encompasses
Bay
County
. The county experienced an annual rate of job growth of 0.1 percent, while the state gained jobs at a rate of 1.8 percent.

The unemployment rate in the Gulf Coast Workforce region — which includes Bay, Franklin and Gulf counties — was 8.7 percent in January 2013. That was up 0.2 percentage point from December 2012.

The January 2013 GulfCoast rate was 1.3 percentage points lower than the region’s year-ago rate of 10 percent. Out of a labor force of 96,776, there were 8,416 unemployed GulfCoast residents.

In January 2013, there were 69,000 nonagricultural jobs in the PanamaCity-LynnHaven-PanamaCityBeach metro area, which encompasses BayCounty. The county experienced an annual rate of job growth of 0.1 percent, while the state gained jobs at a rate of 1.8 percent.

Kim Bodine, executive director for the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, said the winter months are the slowest for a community like BayCounty, which relies on tourism as a major part of its tax base. She expects the employment rate to drop as the weather heats up.

“I would expect to see close to a 2 percent drop or better. Historically, that is what we see between January and March,” Bodine said.

Indeed, BayCounty had an unemployment rate of 10.2 in January 2012.

Florida’s January unemployment rate was down slightly from the revised December rate of 7.9 percent and was 1.4 percentage points lower than the year-ago rate of 9.2 percent. There were 740,000 jobless Floridians, out of a labor force of 9,422,000.

The U.S. unemployment rate stood at 7.9 percent in January. This was the first time Florida’s rate fell below the national rate since January 2008.